Junior Track

Start of the 2016-17 Junior Track Season:

Junior Track Cycling will start at the beginning of Term 4. Track Registration Day will be on the first Tuesday of Term 4 (October 11th 2016). After-school track days will continue on Tuesdays following the Registration Day. To Register in the Junior Programme, please download the forms to fill out and come along to the Track Shed, Hataitai Park on Tuesday 11th October:2016-17-pnp-junior-track-registration

If you want to know how to get started into the sport of cycling, then this is the place.

Just about all of the top New Zealand cyclists come from a track cycling background. This is where they learnt the basics of cadence, speed and bike handling. The PNP Cycling Club offers an after-school Junior Track Programme starting around Mid-October through to Mid-March. The Club has 40 track bikes available for hire to new riders trying out the sport. These bikes can usually fit kids from Year 7 and upwards, but there are now a few tiny bikes available for kids from about 8 years old. If you have your own bike then there’s no age limit to get started.

Beginners

The beginners group is held on Tuesdays from about 4pm-5.30pm. This group learns bike handling skills in a fun, safe atmosphere. We play games on the bike, first starting out on the grass, then moving up to the track later. Formation riding, team events and time-trials are usually run on these afternoons. Peer coaching is provided by older, more experienced kids to help run this group.

Intermediates

Everyone develops at their own pace and riders soon move on to a higher level. An intermediate group starts after the Beginners group at 5.30pm and are doing more experienced stuff like motor-pacing behind a motorbike, sprint practice and pursuits. An all-together faster experience. Runs from 5.30 until 7pm. Alternatively there is also Thursday afternoons from 5pm-7pm for extra training.

Serious Team Training

At various times during the week, special training and coaching sessions are allocated for the Wellington Junior Team preparing to go to the National Track Champs in March. Regular trips to Wanganui’s wooden Velodrome are required to get the experience before going to the Nationals as well as a few trips to the Avantidrome in Cambridge.

The National Champs are held at indoor velodromes: there’s one in Invercargill and one in Cambridge, so the Nationals alternate between the two tracks each year.

Racing

Track Racing is held on Sunday’s from 3pm at the Wellington Velodrome in Hataitai park (November-March). There are Sprints, Derby’s, Keiren’s, Devil-take-the-hindmost, Points and Wheels-races plus more. Something for everyone. This is a carnival atmosphere so parents, bring your picnic hamper, blankets and sun umbrella’s. There is a Pointscore Trophy & Jerseys for each grade throughout the season and these are most coveted by our younger riders. There is also a most improved Junior trophy awarded at the end of the session. There are track carnivals in Levin, Fielding, Wanganui and Cambridge that we also go to.

The season rounds off with the Wellington Track Cycling Champs a few weeks before the Nationals. A chance for you to be a Champion and win Gold!

“Track cycling gives you the speed and skills for riding on the road; and road cycling gives you the endurance to race on the track”

PNP Junior Track Cycling is all about winning — in every sense of the word. We offer leading-edge coaching and programmes, to inspire riders to the winning edge at the National Track Championships. But winning is about far more than medals. It’s about getting into a hugely exciting sport and learning superb bike-handling skills. It’s about speed, tactics and effort. It’s about experiencing first-hand that 100% commitment can truly bring goals within reach — for everyone. It’s about getting the support of people who have loved the sport for decades. Perhaps most of all, it’s about gaining the friendship of clubmates and having a power of focused fun. Join us and be one of the winners.